What to eat in Delhi
Delhi eats from two traditions: the Mughal kebabs and kormas of the old city, and Punjabi dal makhani, chole bhature, parathas and street chaat.

[ ] Eat chole bhature
    Spiced chickpeas in a thick dark gravy with a giant fried bhature puffed up like a balloon. The Delhi breakfast, after which lunch becomes optional.
[ ] Try dal makhani
    Black urad lentils and rajma beans simmered overnight with butter and cream. The texture is almost velvety, and that is the entire point.
[ ] Eat Old Delhi kebabs
    Seekh kebab of minced meat on a skewer, and galouti, a patty so soft it dissolves, invented for a toothless nawab. Eaten with thin rumali roti.
[ ] Try nihari
    Lamb or beef simmered overnight in a thick spiced gravy with bone marrow and ginger. Originally a workers' breakfast eaten at dawn.
[ ] Eat a paratha
    A layered flatbread stuffed with potato, radish, cauliflower or paneer and fried in ghee. Served with yoghurt, pickle and sometimes a thin gravy.
[ ] Try chaat
    Street snacks built on contrast: golgappe filled with sour water, papdi chaat with yoghurt and chutneys, aloo tikki on the griddle. Sour, sweet, hot and crunchy at once.
[ ] Try butter chicken
    Tandoor-cooked chicken in a tomato and cream gravy with butter and a pinch of fenugreek. Invented in Delhi in the 1940s to use up yesterday's tandoori chicken.
[ ] Try biryani
    Basmati rice layered with marinated meat and cooked under a sealed pastry lid. The Delhi version is gentler than the Hyderabadi one and less fiery.
[ ] Try rajma chawal
    Red kidney beans in a spiced gravy with rice — the most domestic lunch in North India. Nothing showy: this is what people actually cook on weekdays.
[ ] Order a thali
    A tray with rice, breads, two or three gravies, dal, yoghurt, pickle and a sweet. Refills are offered free until you decline.
[ ] Eat kulfi
    Ice cream made from reduced milk and frozen in metal cones: dense and unchurned, so it melts slowly. Served with pistachio, saffron or mango.
[ ] Try jalebi
    Spirals of fried batter soaked in saffron syrup: crisp outside and dripping inside. In Old Delhi they are eaten at breakfast with thick rabri milk.
[ ] Try gulab jamun
    Balls of khoya milk dough, fried and soaked in cardamom and rose syrup. Served warm, and a portion means two.
[ ] Drink masala chai
    Tea boiled together with milk, sugar, ginger and spices and poured into small glasses. Drunk several times a day at street stalls.
[ ] Drink lassi
    A yoghurt drink, salted or sweet, often with a cap of cream. The best antidote to a hot meal and a way to survive the Delhi heat.
[ ] Drink nimbu pani
    Lime water with salt, black kala namak and sometimes cumin. Sour and salty rather than sweet, which is exactly why it works in the heat.
[ ] Try sugarcane juice
    Juice pressed from cane through rollers in front of you, with lime, ginger and black salt. A summer street drink, sweet and grassy.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/food-delhi